1 / 189

WELCOME

WELCOME. Defending the Faith. Week 1: Existence of God Week 2: Reliability of the New Testament Week 3: Resurrection of Christ Week 4: Deity of Christ. Existence of God. Apologetics. Apologetics. 1 Peter 3:15

keelty
Download Presentation

WELCOME

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. WELCOME

  2. Defending the Faith

  3. Week 1: Existence of God Week 2: Reliability of the New Testament Week 3: Resurrection of Christ Week 4: Deity of Christ

  4. Existence of God

  5. Apologetics

  6. Apologetics 1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer [apologia] to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

  7. Apologetics Apologetics: Defending the faith to those outside the church. Polemics: Defending the faith to those inside the church.

  8. Apologetics Four types of Apologetics: • Classical Apologetics – Reason oriented approach which argues from the existence of God to the truths of Christianity. • Evidential Apologetics – Evidence oriented approach which argues for the probability of Christianity based on the evidences (primarily of the resurrection of Christ). • Presuppositionalism – Approach which argues for the presupposed properly basic belief in God and the authority of Scripture. • Fideism – Faith oriented approach which argues which argues for a blind faith and the absence of any need for evidences.

  9. Apologetics Who is apologetics for?

  10. Existence of God

  11. The Existence of God Why do we sometimes doubt God’s existence?

  12. The Existence of God • I can’t see or hear Him. • He does not answer my prayers. • It is too good to be true. • I can’t comprehend an eternal being. • There are too many different views about Him. • I can’t understand why He could allow so much suffering.

  13. The Existence of God Why do we have confidence about His existence?

  14. The Existence of God • Answers the question “Why is there something rather than nothing?” • Design of the universe. • The majority of the world is on my side. • I have experienced Him. • The lack of any other adequate explanation. • The universal concept of morality and aesthetics. • The Bible says so.

  15. The Existence of God Why is there something rather than nothing? • There is not anything: All is an illusion. • The universe is self-created. • The universe is created by chance. • The universe is created by nothing. • The universe has existed for eternity. • An eternal self-existent God created the universe.

  16. The Existence of God Axiom: When all of the options have been deduced, the one remaining option is the right one.

  17. The Existence of God • There is not anything: All is an illusion. If all is an illusion, where did the illusion come from? If it is an illusion, where did this illusion come from (ad infinitum)?

  18. The Existence of God • The universe is self-created. Something could not create itself since it would have to predate itself to create itself. This is a logical contradiction and, therefore, absurd.

  19. The Existence of God • The universe was created by chance. Chance has no being.

  20. The Existence of God “Sophisticated arguments of chance creation have been formulated which dazzle our mathematical comprehension… What are the real chances of the universe created by chance? Not a chance. Chance is incapable of creating a single molecule, let alone an entire universe. Why not? Chance is no thing. It is not an entity. It has no being, no power, no force. It can effect nothing because it has no causal power within it. …It is a word which describes mathematical possibilities which, by the curious flip of the fallacy of ambiguity, slips into the discussion as if it were a real entity with real power, indeed, supreme power, the power of creativity.” — R.C. Sproul

  21. The Existence of God • The universe was created by nothing. This violates the law of causality. There must be a cause for every effect. There is no possibility of a causeless effect. It is absurd to think otherwise. Ex nihilo nihil fit “Out of nothing, nothing comes.”

  22. The Existence of God 5. The universe has existed for eternity. “The universe is all there is, all there was, and all there will ever be.” – Carl Sagan

  23. The Existence of God • An infinite number of moments cannot be traversed. • It is impossible to have an infinite series of cause and effects.

  24. The Existence of God Not Possible Infinite time stretching past and future Not Possible Infinite time stretching past Possible Infinite time stretching future

  25. The Existence of God If a man were to try to jump out of an infinitely deep hole, when would he come out?

  26. The Existence of God 6. An eternal self-existent God created the universe. “If something exists, there is a God.” – R.C. Sproul

  27. The Existence of God Traditional arguments for the existence of God: • Cosmological Argument • Teleological Argument • Moral Argument (Anthropological) • sensusdivinitatisArgument • Wager • Cumulative Case Argument

  28. The Existence of God • Cosmological Argument Gk. Cosmos: “an orderly arrangement” This argument states that there must be a cause for every effect, and God must be that Cause. Syllogism 1 Premise 1: Every effect has a cause. Premise 2: The universe is an effect. Premise 3: There cannot be an infinite regress of cause, and effects. Conclusion: There must be an “Uncaused Cause”.

  29. the Existence of God Syllogism 2 Premise 1: Everything that moves must have a mover. Premise 2: The universe is moving. Premise 3: There cannot be an infinite regress of cause, and effects. Conclusion: There must be an “Unmoved Mover”. Syllogism 3 (Kalam) Premise 1: Everything that begins to exist has a cause. Premise 2: The universe began to exist. Conclusion: The universe has a cause (God).

  30. The Existence of God 2. Teleological Argument Gk. teleos: “end, or complete” This argument states that the order of the universe evidences intelligent design rather than chaotic chance. Therefore, there must be a designer. Paley’s famous watchmaker illustration.

  31. The Existence of God “While cosmological arguments for God’s existence deal primarily with the existence of the world, teleological arguments focus on certain features of the existing world, notably its apparent order and design.” — Ronald Nash Faith and Reason (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998 ), 134

  32. The Existence of God Syllogism Premise 1: If there is design, there must be a designer. Premise 2: The universe in all its parts has a design. Conclusion: There must be an “Undesigned Designer.”

  33. The Existence of God Romans 1:20–21 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

  34. The Existence of God Psalm 19:1–4 “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun.”

  35. The Existence of God 3. Moral Argument (Anthropological) This argument states that all people have a concept of right and wrong. This concept must have come from something outside of them, a Moral Absolute. All people have a conscience. This conscience must reflect some conscience outside of them.

  36. The Existence of God Syllogism 1 Premise 1: Moral laws imply a Moral law-giver. Premise 2: There are universal objective moral laws. Conclusion: There must be a Moral law-giver.

  37. The Existence of God Syllogism 2: (C.S. Lewis) • There must be a universal moral law, or else: (a) Moral disagreements would make no sense, as we all assume they do. (b) All moral criticisms would be meaningless (e.g., “The Nazis were wrong.”). (c) It is unnecessary to keep promises or treaties, as we all assume that it is. (d) We would not make excuses for breaking the moral law, as we all do. • But a universal moral law requires a universal Moral law-giver, since the Source of it: (a) Gives moral commands (as lawgivers do). (b) Is interested in our behavior (as moral persons are). • Further, this universal Moral law-giver must be absolutely good: (a) Otherwise all moral effort would be futile in the long run, since we could be sacrificing our lives for what is not ultimately right. (b) The source of all good must be absolutely good, since the standard of all good must be completely good. • Therefore, there must be an absolutely good Moral law-giver.

  38. The Existence of God Romans 2:14–15 “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.”

  39. The Existence of God 4. sensusdivinitatisArgument This argument states that everyone has an innate “sense of the divine” built within them. This “God-shaped void” causes them to have a great desire to fill the void by searching for God. To varying degrees this argument has been held by Augustine, Calvin, and Pascal.

  40. The Existence of God Syllogism Premise 1: All people have an innate need for God (sensus divinitatis) as evidenced by universal religious experience. Premise 2: There must be Someone who created this need. Conclusion: Therefore, God must exist.

  41. The Existence of God “For thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee.” – Augustine

  42. The Existence of God Psalm 14:1a “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”

  43. The Existence of God Romans 1:20 “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

  44. The Existence of God • Pascal’s “Wager” • If you say there is not a God and there is, there will be drastic consequences. • If you say there is a God and there is not, you are none the worse; there are no consequences. • Therefore, one should believe in God.

  45. The Existence of God What argument do you find most persuasive? Why?

  46. The Existence of God What type of people would each argument appeal to?

  47. The Existence of God 6. Cumulative Case Argument This argument sees the greatest value in the cumulative effect of all the arguments. No one argument may be ultimately convincing.

  48. WELCOME

  49. Defending the Faith

More Related